Playing for Keeps
by terriberri23
Summary: Six years ago Emily help profile a serial rapist and killer. What happens when he manages to escape prison and comes after her and all the people she loves. Last chapter now up! I don't own standoff.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

Fun and Games

"Emily, oh Emily I know your in here. I already got your partner, just surrender and I'll go easy on you" a male voice called out into the dark room.

Special agent Emily Lehman was hidden from view in the hallway closet. She could hear footsteps coming closer, it was now or never. She jumped out and fired her gun, hitting the tango twice in the chest.

"I can't believe you won" Commander Frank Rogers said. The whole CNU had been participating in a training exercise, HRT versus agents. In Emily's option it was more of an excursed to play paint ball and get out of paperwork but staying "alive" the longest and taking the commander out all on her own differently had its perks, mostly bragging rights.

"And that's how it's done" Emily said smiling. Frank rolled his eyes as they walked out of the stimulation to where the rest of the unit was waiting. Frank knew he was going to be tense relentlessly by the guys. Not because he was taken out by a girl, the entire unit never saw the people that worked here by sex; it didn't matter if you were male or female in the CNU as long as you could do your job. And Emily certainly could do that. No Frank was never going to live this down because he was supposed to be the top dog so to speak. In all the years he had been commander no other agent or member of HRT ever had been able to take Frank out.

"You know you only got me because you're tiny and fast" Frank told Emily as they joined the rest of the group and begin to put the equipment away.

"No I got you because I stayed low, out of sight and ok I was fast, I'll give you that one. Emily laughed "Oh don't feel bad Frank after all I learned from the best."

"Right, your partner" Special agent Matt Flannery said coming up behind them.

"Yeah I was talking about Frank but good try there Matt" Emily laughed. Matt and Emily are more than just partners; they have been dating for more than a year now.

"I can't believe she won, Frank, man you're losing your touch" Duff, a member of HRT told him.

"Really" another agent, agent Alexander Temple told Frank

"Well I could say the same for you guys" Frank told them. "Temple, I have no idea what you were doing but you certainly didn't have Binder's back. And Duff you didn't have your corner.

"I knew he didn't have my back" Agent Jack Binder said to his partner.

The guys continue to analyze the stimulation and who did what or didn't do what.

"You know what this means through" Agent Samantha Ledrew said, interrupting the guys' conversation. "Frank finally has to pay the toll."

"That's right. I totally forgot about that. Frank, you have to buy me drinks at Sloans." Emily said with a smile.

"You're really going to hold me to that?" Frank asked. It was his own fault; about a year ago Frank decided to make training more interesting and maybe often some motivation to his co-workers. He had told the whole unit anyone that was able to take him out during a stimulation, he would buy them as many drinks that it took to get them drunk at the FBI bar they all hung out at known as Sloans. It became known as paying the toll, Frank just figured he would never actually have to pay it.

"Yes I'm holding you to it. Sam and you wrote it down on paper, it's a legal contact." Emily said laughing. She was enjoying torturing him a little too much. "Don't worry Frank I'm a cheap drunk."

"Fine" Frank said.

"I guess we're all going to Sloans than" Matt said

"Yep, you guys can go ahead, I'll go get Lia" Emily told them. Lia Mathers was the computer analysis for the CNU. And Lia and Emily are close friends.

They finished putting the equipment back and everyone walked upstairs. The guys were still tensing Frank. He knew it was going to be a long night but he was secretly glad it had been Emily that finally was able to taken him out.

Once upstairs, the office quickly emptied as everyone left for Sloans. The only people that stayed behind was Matt, Frank, Duff and Samantha to wait for Emily and Lia. Emily was about to go get Lia when she noticed a very familiar looking tall blonde man standing in her bosses' office. "Oh my gosh what's he doing here." Emily said.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

Introductions

"What's who doing where?" Matt asked. Emily did not get the opportunity to answer his question before Cheryl opened the door to her office and both occupants walked out.

"Hey, rookie, it has been too long." the mystery man said. Emily smiled and went over and gave him a hug.

"It really has been to long, Brady" She said. She knew her friends particularly her boyfriend was staring at them; maybe she should give them an explanation to why she was hugging a strange man. She pulled back from the hug and turned around to face everyone.

"Everyone this is special agent Max Brady, we were partners back when I worked on the behavioral unit in Phoenix. Max this is Frank, Duff, Samantha, Lia and Matt" Emily said. Everyone said a polite hello. Emily was glad to see her old partner; she hadn't seen or heard from him since she left Phoenix close to six years ago. But she knew that there had to be a reason for him to be there in L.A. in her bosses' office.

I'm glad to see you again but I doubt you came down here so we can grab a beer and talk about old times." Emily said

"Same Emily, straight to the point. Max replied "maybe we should discuss this privately."

"It is fine Max, whatever you have to say, you can say in front of them. Plus they'll find out anyhow" Emily said. She had no idea why Max was here, but she wanted to know.

"Ok. Do you remember Kyle Marshall?" Max asked.

"Yeah of course, I remember him and the case. Please don't tell me you found another victim." Emily said

"No, it is worse than that" Max replied

"What can possibly be worse than finding another one of his victims?" Emily asked

'Wait a minute, whose Kyle Marshall?" Lia asked. She was trying to follow the conversation that was going on between her best friend and the very handsome stranger but she needed details and she figured everyone else did too, they were just to polite to ask.

"Ok about six years ago, there was a serial rapist and killer in Phoenix, the media dubbed him the grab72 killer because he would grab his victims and hold them 72 hours. He raped, tortured and murdered six women that we know about. The Phoenix bureau set up a joint operation between homicide, sex crimes, and behavioral. We eventually caught the grab72 killer, A.K.A. Kyle Marshall and I profiled him for the bureau." Emily replied. "So what about Marshall?" Emily asked Max.

"He escaped from prison." Max answered her question.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

How the Hell...

"How the hell did this psycho escape from a maximum security prison?" Emily questioned.

"He was being transferred from the Phoenix Prison Complex to the Arizona State Prison Complex where he was to be place on death row. There was an accident, he killed two of the guards and got away. We think he may have had some help. The incident is still under investigation." Brady told her.

Emily plopped down into her chair near her desk and sighed. "How the hell does this happen? Who in their right mind helps a psychopath escape custody? What the hell is the matter with people?"

"Emily, you are rumbling" Frank told her

"You think this is funny Frank. Marshall, killed six women, sorry, killing them was probably the nicest thing he did, he raped and tortured those women for 72 hours and he is out there again which means it is only a matter of time before he kills again" Emily said in a high pinch voice.

"You are right Lehman, he is going to kill again but this time we think we have figured out who he is going to target" Brady told her.

"Yeah and whose that?" Emily questioned Max again.

"You" he replied.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

Explaining the Monster

"Me?" Emily questioned. "That's impossible, Marshall had a specific type of girl and I do not fit the profile" She reasoned.

"But you fit some of the profile" Brady told her

"Yeah but Marshall is a perfectionist, some is not good enough for him" Emily argued

"But can't a profile change?" Lia asked with concern in her voice.

"Yeah but it's rare for a psychopath to change the characteristics he looks for in a

female" Emily replied. She looked over at Cheryl "I want this case"

"Well the Phoenix behavioural unit has requested for you to work the case since you were one of the lead investigators on the case before but I'm not sure if it is such a great idea" Cheryl replied.

"Cheryl, I know this guy better than any other agent from here to Washington, please let me have this one" Emily pleaded

"Fine, I'll officially put Matt and you on the case but you'll be collaborating with Special Agent Brady and the Phoenix office and you are to conduct your investigation from here, I'm putting you under protective custody as of this moment." Cheryl told her

"Arg, Cheryl that's not necessary. It's probably just an idol threat. Something he invented to throw the authorities off." Emily started to say but Cheryl cut her off "I mean it Emily you are not to move an inch without Frank and Duff, do you understand me?"

"Yes madam" Emily replied. She knew better than to argue with Cheryl. She turned to face Brady and asked "What evidence do you have that I'm his target?"

"We found over 25 newspaper clippings in his old cell at Phoenix Prison Complex, all concerning you, and he had hearts drawn around all the photos of your face. It was like stating at his wall all over again, Em. Trust me, he is coming after you" Brady told her.

"The drawing hearts around photos of his victims' face was like his calling card. However, he usually did it afterwards with the victims' blood." Emily explained. "I assume you brought the case files on Marshall"

"Of course" Brady said holding up the files

"You can set up in conference room two" Cheryl told them

Ten minutes later, everyone had relocated to the conference room, all the information was organized on a bulletin board and Emily and Max began to give the others a complete briefing on Marshall.

"Marshall picked women with these common traits, all women had brown hair and brown eyes and were between the ages of 30-35. In addition, they were high achievers and very independent women who were very career oriented. None were married nor did they have any kids." Max stated

"Em, I thought you said you didn't fit the profile. Every characteristic applies to you" Matt said. He had a bad feeling about this and his gut was usually right, he hoped this time it was wrong.

"Marshall, likes brown hair brown eyed girls, I have auburn hair and hazel eyes" Emily replied causally. "Anyhow, Marshall chose his victims at random, we never could find a connection between them other than the common traits, he would stalk them for a two month period, and than he would grab them from the parking lot of their job, as well it was always done on a Friday because Marshall had a normal life, he had a job as an electrician, and had a girlfriend. He would keep his victims bound, gagged and hung upside down without food or water; he would only take his victims down to rape them. Than Sunday evening, he would bathe his victim in bleach in order to cleanse their soul before smothering them with a pillow than he would wrap their bodies in a blanket and would place a teddy bear with the body before disposing of the body. He kept a wall of his victims, photos that he took and like I said he would draw hearts around their faces with their blood." Emily explained

"What is the significant of hanging his victims upside down, the bleach, the teddy bear and the hearts?" Lia asked

"Kyle Marshall is a psychopath that kills without remorse which all sterns from his childhood, his father left when Marshall was only two years old. His mother physically, emotionally, and sexually abused him from ages four to sixteen. Often as a punishment she would hang Kyle upside down in the basement for 72 hours without food and water. Also, she was obsessed with cleaning and would make Marshall wash his hands with bleach. I never figured out the significant behind the teddy bear or the hearts, he would not tell me. Also, Marshall loves to play games with people's minds and he is really smart, he has an IQ of 112." Emily stated

"He can't be that smart he got caught" Frank said

"Marshall is also egocentric, he would leave clues at each crime scene, he wanted us to figure out it was him." Max said

Ring, ring, ring went Emily's cell phone, she flipped and press the talk button. "Lehman" Emily said into the phone.

"Emily, do you miss me?" Kyle Marshall's voice came over the other end of the phone.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

78 Chestnut Street

Emily was caught of guard to hear Marshall's voice on the other end of the phone line, but it only lasted for a moment. She singled to get the attention of everyone and mouthed the words "it's Marshall" pointing to the phone. Lia jumped up and took off to the R-Sims room. Emily already knew she was going to try and trace Marshall's location meaning it was now up to Emily to keep him talking.

"What do you want?" Emily said into the phone.

"No warm greeting of hello. Emily didn't your mother teach you manners" Kyle said

"Sorry. Hello, Kyle." Emily replied

"Now you're just humouring me while your computer geek friend Lia, attempts to figure out where I am. But I'm not too concerned about that. Emily, you didn't answer my question." Kyle said

"And what question was that?" Emily said she was trying her best to keep Kyle talking to give Lia more time. But the fact he knew Lia's name gave Emily the creeps.

"You can try and buy as much time as you want but you won't find me. Now I asked did you miss me?" Kyle replied calmly.

Emily was not sure how to answer that question, when it came to talking with a psychopath words could become a very dangerous thing. Just as she was about to response, Marshall cut her off. "Your hesitation is answer enough. I missed you. From the moment we met, I knew. I knew that I had finally met a woman, mother would approve of. There was the matter of your career but that was just a technicality. So I talked to you and I told you things I never told anyone else and I TRUSTED YOU AND I LOVED YOU." Marshall yelled into the phone, Emily could sense that he was becoming agitated and angry. "And you go and abandon me like everyone else in my life."

"Kyle, I did not abandon you, it was a case and I eventually had to move on to a new case. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Emily rationalized

"Just keep telling yourself that, it might ease your guilt. Just remember everything that happens from this moment on is entirely your fault. I'll be seeing you soon." click when the line

"Kyle, Kyle, Kyle" Emily said into the phone, but he had already hung up. Emily and everyone else ran out to the R-Sims room to see what information Lia was able to gather.

"Ok so I was able to track Marshall to a pay phone located downtown at 78 Chestnut Street." Lia said

"Ok let's go" Emily said

"You don't actually think Marshall stuck around do you?" Frank asked

"No. But he will have left us some sort of clue. So can we please move?" Emily replied

"What we? You are not coming" Matt replied

"Your superior told you to stay put, its best if you listen to her." Max said

"I'm coming" Emily said sternly

"Emily, just stay here" Duff told her

"Look, I'm going with four trained FBI Agents not including myself. All of you are an extremely good shot, plus Frank is a sniper who can shoot up to 800 ft away. Oh and look at that I have my own piece on my hip and I'm also an extremely good shot. I will wear a vest and will be extra careful but I cannot sit ideally by and the more time we stand here arguing about this, the bigger head start Marshall gets. So can we please move?" Emily retorted

"Let's go" Matt said. He knew Emily well enough to know that there was no way in hell she was backing down from this, he also understood where she was coming from but he still couldn't shake the bad feeling he had.

It was a twenty minute drive to the pay phone, even with the sirens going. Ten minutes into the drive, Matt looked over at Emily and said "Lehman, check your gun"

"We've been partners for almost two years and you've never asked me to check my gun" Emily said, she thought Matt's request was a bit strange.

"Just do it" Matt said

"I have four in the mag and four in the chamber. I'm good" Emily replied, she gave Matt's hand a secret squeeze. She knew he was worried about her. "I promise to be careful. Plus Marshall isn't going try anything now, he thinks I betrayed and abandon him, he'll get more pleasure in seeing me squirm than killing me"

"Not helping" Matt replied

"We're here" Frank called from the front.

Everyone got out. They began to examine the pay phone. Emily started to take prints but knew it was a waste of time after all it was a public pay phone. She put her hand inside the slot of the phone where you get your change and pulled out a piece of paper. "I got something" Emily said. She opened the paper, "It's a picture of a computer"

"What does it say there?" Brady asked pointing to the computer screen which had handwriting on it.

"It's your entire fault." Emily said "Marshall said everything that happens is my fault."

"Ok so a picture of a computer means what?" Frank asked

"That's not any computer, it's the new RFC-1178 modern, Lia was talking..." Duff started to say but Emily cut him off "Fuck, he's going after Lia"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six:

Finding Lia

"Why isn't she picking up her cell phone?" Emily asked, as much as she tried she could not hide the worry in her voice. They were driving back to the office as fast as Frank could go.

"Did you try the office?" Duff asked

"Of course I did, that's the first place I tried. Cheryl said that Lia went to Starbucks to get a coffee. She sent Samantha to go look for her" Emily replied

"Why would she leave the office when we have a serial killer on the loose?" Duff asked with concerned in his voice. Duff and Lia had a complicated relationship, they had hooked up a few times in the past year but they weren't actually dating. And Duff differently had some sort of feelings for Lia.

"Because we thought the serial killer was just after me" Emily replied trying to stay calm "I should have knew the difference. I've been in Marshall's head before. I know when it comes to him nothing is as straight forward as it seems. I should have figured it out."

"Hey, it's not your fault. Plus Lia is going to be fine, she's one of the toughest chicks I know" Matt said trying to be more optimistic then he felt.

"I know that's what scares me even more. All of Marshal's victims were tough and strong individuals but he still managed to kill them" Emily said "Matt, She's my best friend, if anything happens to her..." "We're here" Frank called from the front seat cutting Emily off. Frank had barely stopped the van before Duff and Emily had jumped out. Duff, Emily and Matt headed to check out the Starbucks while Frank and Max headed to the office to see if Lia had returned there.

Duff, Emily and Matt just rounded the corner when they literally bumped into Samantha and Lia. "Lia, thank goodness you are alright" Emily said relieved to see that her friend was safe

"Of course I'm alright. What's going on? Did you find something?" Lia asked

"I didn't tell her yet, I didn't want to freak her out" Sam explained

"Didn't tell me what?' Lia asked

"Let's discuss it back at the office" Matt said, he wanted to get both Emily and Lia back to the office as soon as possible, he felt they would be safer there. He made a quick call to Frank to let them know that Lia was fine and they all headed back to the office.

"Ok we're back; now tell me what's going on?" Lia said

Emily pulled out the picture of the computer and handed it to Lia. "It's the new RFC-1178, what about it?" Lia questioned she was very confused by what was going on.

"We found it at the pay phone Marshall called from. We believe he is going to come after you" Emily said much calmer then she felt.

"Marshall doesn't even know me, why would he come after me? I thought he was coming after you" Lia asked

"He is and this is how. He is coming after me though the people I love. He wants me to suffer first." Emily explained "the picture of the computer indicates he's after you."

"I don't mean to scare you but this guy rarely makes emptied threats." Brady stated

"This means from this moment on Lia you are also being place into protective custody." Cheryl said. Lia agreed to the protection with out arguments. She didn't want to admit it but she was a little freaked out by the thought that Marshall was after her.

"He's not just going to come after Lia, he is going to come after everyone I care about, Frank, Duff, Sam, Matt and Cheryl are all potential targets." Emily said

"Well then let's go catch the son of a bitch" Matt said

"I'm with you" Emily said

"I'll try and get something from the picture" Lia said heading towards the R-Sims room

"I'll go with her" Duff replied following Lia

"Let's go and try to figure out his next move" Matt said. Everyone went back to the conference room that they had set up.

"Can I ask you something?" Frank asked Emily after an hour of looking over files and still coming up with nothing.

"Sure" Emily replied

"You said you profiled this guy six years ago and you have only been in the FBI for seven years, so explain to me how does a rookie agent get such a big profile case?" Frank asked

"Brady was my partner, he had the experience and the seniority I was basically a tag along but I was there for every part of the case and I made a huge contribution to the case. The night we arrested Marshall and brought him into integration, I was told by my boss I could not sit in on the interview because it would contain some sensitive material and he didn't want to give a pretty thing like me nightmares. I didn't take that comment well and we had a disagreement, at the same time as I was arguing with my boss, they brought Marshall in. He heard me arguing, I don't know if it was a turn on but Marshall refused to talk to anyone else. My boss just wanted to close the case so he let me interview him and I eventually got to profile him. "Emily explained.

Frank was about to comment when the lights in the building started to flick in and out. Emily's hand intuitively went to her gun, "What the hell is going on?" Matt asked

"Marshall is in the building" Emily replied


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

In the Dark

"Marshall is to smart to show up in the FBI building" Max said, the power was still flicking on and off.

"You have a better explanation?" Emily asked.

The entire room went black; Matt's right hand went to his gun while his left hand reached out and pulled Emily near him. No psycho was going to hurt her while he was around. Everyone was unnaturally still; neither person was sure of what was going to happen next. "Help, guys I need you out here now!" Duff's voice called out from the R-Sims room.

Emily pulled out her flashlight and quickly ran out to see what was going on, everyone followed her lead, but what Emily saw when she entered the R-Sims room, she never expected. Lia was lying on the floor, having some sort of seizure. "Duff what is wrong with her?" Emily asked running over to where they were.

"I don't know, one minute she was on the computer and the next" Duff started to say. Just then the power came back on to the building and Lia's body went limp. Duff pressed his index and pointer on her neck "her pulse is weak, we have to get her to the hospital now." He said. Emily called 911, than there was nothing else they could do for Lia but wait for the ambulance. "I still think Marshall is in the building somewhere" Emily said holding Lia's hand.

"Stay with Lia, we will go check it out" Frank said

Emily nodded her head in agreement "Duff, don't let her out of your sight" Matt said as he, Frank, Max and Cheryl went to explore the building.

"What could be wrong with her?" Duff asked for the millionth time since he and Emily arrived at the hospital. Lia had been rushed of by the doctors but no one had came out and told them anything and that was over 30 minutes ago. Emily kept looking at her cell phone, waiting for Matt to let her know what they found. "I don't know what's wrong with Lia, we just have to wait" Emily said.

"Are you here for Special Agent Lia Mathers?" A doctor asked walking up towards Emily and Duff

"Yes" they both said in unison "What is wrong with her?" Emily continued to ask.

"We're not sure yet. We think she has been poisoned but we haven't been able to figure out what type of poison was used" the doctor replied

"How is she doing?" Duff asked terrified to hear the answer

"Not good, her internal organs are starting to shut down, and she's had two more seizures since she arrived. Can you tell me anything that could help us figure out what she is being poisoned with?" the doctor asked

"I don't know" Emily said trying to rack her brain for an answer but she couldn't think of any.

"I don't think so" Duff said

"Well if you think of anything, let me know" the doctor said while walking away.

"I don't know what the poison is, but I can tell you who did it" Emily said to Duff

"Marshall?" Duff asked

"Marshall" Emily said. Her cell went off, "Lehman" she said into the phone

"Hey Em, it is me" Matt said. "We've searched the entire building, Marshall is not here but we did find a laptop computer. Em, you really should be sitting down for this part"

"Matt, just tell me what was on the computer" Emily said

"Across the screen was scrolling 1 down four more to go before the target." Matt said

"He's threatening the rest of you guys, that computer places Marshall in the building." Emily said

"Well if he was here, he didn't stick around" Matt said "How's Lia?" he asked

"She's being poisoned and we can't figure out what kind of poison he used. She's not doing to good Matt" Emily said, it took every bit of her strength not to break down right than and there. "Hold on, I got an incoming call." Emily pressed the call waiting button

"Lehman" she said into the phone

"So how is the computer geek?" Marshall asked

"What the hell did you do to her?" Emily said

"Now now be nice, I'm the only person that knows the antidote" Marshall said

"Ok sorry Kyle, you've been in the FBI building, I'm impress that you got in there and out without being seen" Emily said playing up his ego

"I'm just really good and you and your little crew will never catch me. Emily, your boyfriend is really cute. Not really your type but very cute" Marshall said

"You stay away from him" Emily warned knowing that this was Marshall's way of telling her that Matt was next. "You said there was an antidote for Lia"

"Let me give you some advice, Coffee is really bad for you" Marshall said "Tell Agent Flannery to watch his back" and with that Marshall hung up.

Emily went back to Matt "That was Marshall, whatever he used to poison Lia, it is in the coffee she got from Starbucks. And Matt, he just threaten to come after you so please please don't do anything stupid" she said

"I promise I'll be fine" Matt said. Emily hung up the phone.

"Once the coffee is analyzed we'll know what the poison is" Emily told Duff. She walked over to the chair that was in the hospital, she grabbed her jacket.

"Hey, where are you going?" Duff asked

"Enough is enough, Lia is fighting for her life because of me. I'm not going to wait around and watch the rest of you end up in a bed next to her. Marshall wants me and I'm not going to find him sitting around here, I'm going to go find this bastard and I'm going to put a bullet in his head." Emily said walking away

"Emily, Emily don't be stupid" Duff called after her but Emily was determined that she was going to stop this and she just kept walking away.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Face to Face

Duff hit redial on his cell phone for the millionth time. He had been desperately trying to reach Emily since she left, but she was not picking up. "Oh crap" Duff said as he saw the gang walk into the hospital.

"Hey Duff" Frank said as he and the others walked up to Duff.

"Did you figure out what's poisoning Lia yet?" Duff asked

"Not yet" Cheryl replied "the lab is running a tox test on the coffee now, they have been instructed to call me the moment they know something"

"We just couldn't sit and wait around the office any longer" Matt said "how is Lia doing?"

"The same" Duff replied. Matt looked around and for the first time notice that Emily was nowhere in sight. "Where is Em? With Lia?" Matt asked

Duff told a deep breathe and back away from Matt "She left" he said

"Left, what do you mean she left?" Cheryl asked

"She went after Marshall" Duff replied

"And you didn't stop her?" Matt asked "I told you not to let her out of your sight."

"I tried to stop her" Duff said

"Emily is 100 pounds soaking wet, you could have stopped her" Matt said

"What was I suppose to do, take her hostage. Emily has a mind of her own, once it is set on something there is no stopping her, you of all people should know that" Duff replied

Matt moved forward but Cheryl stepped in between Duff and Matt "alright, you two coming to blows is not going to help and figure out where Emily went" she said

"I've been trying her cell since she left but she's not answering" Duff replied "I'm hoping it is because she sees my number on the caller ID and is choosing to ignore it."

Matt took out his cell phone and hit speed dial. He let the rings go through until he got her voice mail. "She's not picking up for me either" Matt said

"Where would she even go to look for him? We have no leads." Frank said

"Un-oh" Samantha said. That got everyone's attention pretty quickly. "About four months ago, Lia, Em, and I were just hanging out and Lia showed us this technique where you can hack into someone's GPS on their cell, if they were to call you from their cell to your cell phone. If Marshall called Em from a cell with a GPS locator on it, than Emily knows exactly where Marshall is to" Samantha said

"I'll have a serious talk with Lia when she wakes up about that but you just gave me an idea" Cheryl said "We can track Emily by the GPS in her car and cell."

Miles away and just outside the city Emily pulled into an abandon farm. She had followed the GPS signal that she was getting from her phone to here. She knew Marshall was inside; she had done a quick search the farm once belong to Marshall's great aunt. He was a fugitive; he would think that he was safe here. Her phone rang again, she looked at the caller ID figuring it would be Duff again but this time it was Matt. She ignored it and took a deep breathe. She pulled her gun out and headed into the farm.

Emily entered the farm, it was completely dark. She pulled out her flashlight and kept her gun out in front of her. She looked around; there was nothing to suggest anyone had been there for years. Emily heard something, she followed the sound, but she didn't expect to see what she saw. A young woman hung upside down, bound and gagged, meeting Marshall's MO. Emily quickly ran over to her, and got her down, she pulled out the gagged "My name is Emily, I'm with the FBI. What's your name?" Emily said to the visibly shaken woman.

"Julia" she said

"Ok Julia, you are going to be alright. Do you know where he went?"

"No he just left" she replied.

"OK, let me get you out of her" Emily said helping Julia up, they were slowly making their way to the exit when Marshall came up from behind and pulled the girls down.

Emily started to fight back but Marshall had the upper hand "run Julia run" Emily called out before Marshall pushed a clothed over her mouth causing Emily to lose consciousness becoming Marshall's latest prey.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine:

Chapter Nine:

Revelations

Emily started to stir. Her head was killing her; she had no idea where she was to. She was resting on a cold hard floor and her hands were tied behind her back. The room was dimly lit and it took a moment for Emily's eyes to adjust, when they did she scanned the room, that's when she saw Julia, gagged and bound hanging upside down. The events of earlier came rusting back "damn it, she never got away" Emily thought to herself as she struggled to sit up. That's when she noticed that her gun and badge were missing. She heard footsteps, "you're finally awake, I was starting to worry that I had killed you." Marshall said as he walked down the stairs to see his prisoner had regained consciousness.

"Did you drug me?" Emily inquired

"Chloroform. But you have been out for five hours now. But I was able to entertain myself while I waited for you to wake up" Marshall said smiling. He looked over at Julia and winked. Emily understood what he meant by that and she got the cold shivers. "You did catch me off guard. What are you doing here?" he asked

"I came to stop you" Emily replied

"I don't think so. You have a high IQ just like me, we're one in the same" Marshall said

"I'm nothing like you" Emily replied

"I wasn't finished, don't cut me off." Marshall said "You are smart but yet you came here alone. You knew you could not take me on your own but yet you left the safety of the hospital and came after me on your own, and when you found me you did not call for back up. You are willing to sacrifice yourself for those people."

"Those people are my family!" Emily stated

"How honourable." Marshall said as he bent down and whispered in Emily's ear "however by sacrificing yourself, you are saving no one. Now, I have to go get rid of your car. Maybe I'll put it in drive and let it roll into a lake. I think I'll leave your ID and gun it in. That way when your family finds the car in a lake, they will think you had a car accident and drown. And they will stop looking for you, no one is every going to find you" Marshall threaten

"That's where you're wrong, my people especially Matt, will never stop looking for me" Emily called at Marshall as he walked back up the stairs and close the door, locking them in. Emily pulled herself up onto her knees, she still felt a little light headed but she had to try and get out of there. Once on her knees, she managed to stand up and she walked over to Julia "I'm going to get you down, it is going to be Ok" Emily reassured her. However, as long as Emily's hands were tied behind her back there wasn't much she could do. She looked around the room for anything that was sharp enough to cut through the ropes restraining her. There wasn't really anything around to help Emily get her hands free. She concluded by the concrete floor and the fact that there was only one tiny window in the entire place; they must be in the cellar of the farm house. Emily leaned her body up against the wall, she had to think and figure out what her next move was, and she had to get Julia out of there before Marshall got back.

Back at the hospital, Duff had decided to stay with Lia while everyone else had headed back to the office to try and track Emily using GPS. Duff wanted to help find Emily but he just could not bring himself to leave Lia and Cheryl wanted someone to guard her anyway so he had volunteered. They still hadn't figured out what was poisoning her. The doctors had managed to stabilize her and she hadn't had another seizure in over an hour but she was still in critical condition and was not breathing on her own. Duff took Lia's hand in his and whispered in her ear "I promise when this is all over, I'll finally take you out on a real date, we're go dancing like you wanted. Just please come back to me." He squeezed her hand then he leaned in and lightly kissed her on the forehead.

Back at the office, Matt was pacing back and forth the R-Sims room while he continually dialled Emily's cell phone. But it was still popping up voice mail. "Would you stop pacing, you are driving me crazy" Samantha said. She was sat to a computer and was pulling up the GPS from Emily's Car. Cheryl was in her office trying Emily's cell phone GPS. While Max and Frank had headed back to the conference room to look over Marshall's files again, to see if they had miss something, anything that might give them a location for Marshall.

"She's my girlfriend" Matt replied as he tried Emily's cell phone again

"Yeah, I get it you love her but you are not the only person in this office that cares about Emily. And this isn't easy for me either. One of my best friends is lying in a hospital bed being poison and the other is MIA with a psycho killer after her. I'm just as worried as you are. But we're both forgetting Emily is trained for this type of situation. If Marshall has her, she'll fight." Samantha replied

Matt sat down next to her "I know" he said

"I got something. The GPS is putting Emily's car just off Airport Boulevard. It is in a stationary position" Samantha said

"The red dot is suppose to be Em's car, isn't that Lake Charles?" Matt question

"Alright, do you two have anything because I have nothing" Cheryl said walking into the R-Sims room

"You couldn't get a line on Emily's cell?" Matt question

"Nope nothing, either her battery is dead or she is somewhere where there is no signal. I can't track her GPS" Cheryl replied

"She must be somewhere where there is no signal than because Emily is too responsibility to let her battery die" Samantha said "we think we might have something, the GPS in her car is putting her vehicle right there"

"That's Lake Charles" Cheryl said "Samantha, go get Frank and get back up, head out there and check it out, keep me in the loop."

"Yes Mam." Samantha said as she got up and headed to get Frank.

Cheryl could tell Matt was becoming impatient waiting for his orders "You are emotional involved here and before I sent you out in the field, I need to know that you are going to be able to follow commends, I can't have you putting anyone at risk." Cheryl said. She didn't want to have to keep Matt from going out to look for Emily but she would if she had to.

"Cheryl and I say this with all due respect, I'm going to find Emily, now I can do that as a FBI agent with a gun and badge or I can do it as a civilian, your choice." Matt replied

"Go but don't do anything stupid" Cheryl told him.

Back at the farm house, it had been at least an half an hour since Marshall had left, maybe longer Emily couldn't really till. She was sat on the floor trying to untie herself, she had managed to loosen the knots in the ropes but she couldn't get it completely untied, so now she was attempting to wiggle out them, she knew that Marshall could be back at any moment and she had a fighting chance if she wasn't bounded. And she really wanted to get Julia down. She continued to rub her hands together, trying to wiggle lose. Her hands were stinging due to the friction from rubbing her hands together trying to get free. But there was no way in hell she was about to give up, she could feel the ropes starting to loosen. Just a few more minutes and she would be free; she just prayed Marshall wouldn't show up before than. A few minutes later, Emily had one of her hands free; she put her hands in front of her, and quickly untied the other hand. They were rubbed raw but she didn't care, she walked over to Julia and lowered the ropes that were keeping her up. She untied Julia, and pulled the gag out of her month. "Come on" Emily said helping Julia to her feet and heading up the stairs, Emily didn't think Marshall was stupid enough to leave with the door unlock but it was worth a shot, once they got to the top of the stairs, Emily tried the knob, just as she expect it was locked. "Now what?" Julia asked. "There is no other way out; neither of us can fit though the window it is too small"

Emily didn't know how to answer Julia, she had no idea how they were going to get out of there. They walked back down the stairs and Emily sat back on the floor. She really mess this up, she didn't tell anyone where she was going, she should have called for back up when she figured out about the farm house. By not doing so, she not only put her life in jeopardy, she put Julia's. "I have no idea how to get out of here" she admitted to Julia.

Julia sat down next to her "we need a plan" she said

That's when Emily had a revelation, she put her hand up her shirt and pulled out her cell phone "I hid it in my bra before I came in, I forgot I had it there" she said "but the antenna is broken." she realized once she had a looked at it "no way we're going to get signal down here without one, if we can figure out a way to fix it than I can turn it on and my team will be able to track the GPS, and if I get it done before Marshall gets back I might even be able to make a call to them and tell them exactly where we are."

Both Emily and Julia fell silent as they wracked their brains for a way to fix the cell phone. "My bobby pin" Julia said pulling one out of her hair and handing it to Emily

"It just might work if I had something to attach it with." Emily said looking around the room; she had another revelation when she saw the gag. It was only a piece of silk, she jumped up, pick it up and ribbed of a tiny piece, just enough to tie the bobby pin around the tip of her cell phone where the antenna used to be. She looked over at Julia and said "let's hope this works" Emily took a deep breathe and pressed the power button.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten:

Chapter Ten:

Next

Emily held her breathe as she pressed the power button on the cell phone. "This just has to work" she thought to herself. She was fully aware that this might be their only chance of getting out of there alive. Emily forced herself to look at the cell phone that she just turned on, she only let out her breathe when she saw that the phone had actually turned on. Her attention than shifted to see if there was any single. "I got three bars out of five, it's not great single but it should be enough to make a call." Emily told Julia. She was dialling Matt's number when they heard a vehicle's door shut. "He's back" Julia said. Emily pressed the end button, knowing she wouldn't have time to make the call now.

"Now what?" Julia questioned. Emily thought for a second. She could hear the front door being opened; she knew she only had a matter of minutes before Marshall made his way to the cellar. Emily was used to thinking on her feet and she quickly formulated a new plan. She walked over to the window, she looked at the battery, and she had about two hours left before her battery would die. Emily lifted the window and placed the phone outside; she made sure it was concealed before turning to Julia. "Let's just hope that the single stays strong enough so that my friends can trace the GPS." She said. Julia nodded in agreement. They could hear Marshall's footsteps getting closer to the cellar door. At that moment Emily realized that if Kyle came downstairs to find Julia and herself untied, he would not only be furious but he would also know that they were up to something. "I'm really sorry Julia but I think we need to be in the same spot we were in before Kyle left. Or he is going to know we were up to something" Emily told her.

"You're right" Julia said in agreement as she grabbed the gag and passed it to Emily to tie. They could now hear Marshall at the cellar door, they could hear him clinking the keys, they knew he was about to unlock the door. Emily quickly got the ropes that Marshall had used to bound Julia, she made sure that the rope wasn't as tight, "are you sure you are going to be ok?" Emily asked before she pulled the ropes so Julia was again hanging upside down. Julia nodded her head. Emily could hear Marshall putting the key into the door and turning the key. Emily put the rope on the pulley Marshall had set up and gave it a pull so Julia was again hanging upside down. She than grabbed the rope that was used to bound her and headed over to the corner that she was suppose to be in. She put her hands behind her back and tied a knot in the rope loosely but enough so it looked like she was bound. Emily just got herself situated when she heard the key turn and the door open.

Meanwhile, Matt, Frank, Max, Samantha and back up had arrived at the area around Lake Charles where the GPS had placed Emily's car. "Ok, everyone fan out, we're looking for a blue Mazda6 Spots Sedan. Keep your eyes pealed for anything out of the ordinary. The chain of commend is simple, I'm in charge. Remember, this is one of our own that's missing and we need to bring her home" Frank stated. Everyone spread out and started to look for anything that put Emily in the area. Matt and Samantha were following the GPS single from their handheld computer when suddenly the red dot they had been following disappeared off the screen. "What the hell?" Samantha said

Matt didn't get a chance to reply because Max called out "I found something." Matt and Samantha quickly headed in the direction that Max had called from.

"What do you have?" Matt asked once they had reached Max.

"Tire tracks leading into Lake Charles." Max replied

Matt look at the place where Max was standing, he didn't want to admit it but the tire tracks were differently the same type that a Mazda 6 made.

"I'll make the call to get the car retrieved" Frank said coming up behind them

An hour later, a car was being pulled out from Lake Charles. Once the crane had placed the car on the sand, Matt walked over to it. "It's Emily's" He said

"I guess we're looking for a body now" A rookie agent whispered to another agent standing next to him.

Matt spun around from the car to face the agent. "No we're not looking for a body. We're going to continue to look for Emily. And if you had any investigating skills you would realize that this is more than a coincidence. At the same time that there is a psycho after her, her car ends up in a lake. It just doesn't make sense" Matt partially yelled at the rookie.

"Matt, calm down" Frank said pulling him away from the rookie and crowd, because Matt was getting oftenly close to him.

"I'm fine" Matt replied still wanting to go back and show that idiot his left hook.

"I wanted to hit him too" Frank confessed "but you have to calm down. Here take these latex gloves and use your investigating skills to examine the car. I don't want to have to send you back to Cheryl but I will if you start fighting and that's not going to help Emily any. "

Matt was still to steamed to talk so he just smiled and nodded to Frank as he headed back to the car with Frank right behind him. Matt knew Frank was right; getting kicked off the scene for fighting wasn't going to help Emily.

The car had water damage but besides that there was not a single scratch on it, there was no sign of an accident. And according to the tire tracks it just looked like the car was drove directly into the lake. Matt concluded to himself after he had a look at the outside of the car. He open the door and found Emily's gun and water soaked badge carefully placed in plain sight like it wanted to be found. "Hey Sam and Frank, come here for a second." Matt called

"Look at how her gun and badge is placed" Matt said when Sam and Frank got over to where Matt was "And Emily only takes her gun off when she heads to bed, if this was an accident her gun would be with her" Matt explained, he could not bring himself to say that the gun would be with her body. "It's like this whole thing was staged"

"I agree with you, someone wanted us to think she has drowned" Sam said

"Which means where ever Emily is, she is no longer armed" Frank said

_**Back at the office:**_

Cheryl slammed down the screen of her laptop. She was frustrated with it, she had been trying to get a track on Emily's cell phone for the pass hour but nothing came up. Cheryl sighed; there was no point to try again, where ever Emily was she wasn't going to find her by stating at a blank screen, it was time to take action. She got up from her chair and left her office. As Cheryl left her office, a red dot showed up on the screen, showing where Emily's cell phone was and thus where Emily was.

Cheryl headed downstairs if she couldn't do anything productive to help Emily, she do something for Lia. She headed down the hall towards the FBI forensics Lab that was supposed to be processing the coffee. "Do we have the tox results from the coffee?" Cheryl asked the lab technician on entering the lab.

The lab technician named Skyla, looked up from her microscope. "Nothing showed up on a normal tox test. So I had to run additional tests, I should get the results shortly." She replied sweetly. "You're welcome to wait, it shouldn't be much longer"

"Thank-you" Cheryl said taking a seat to wait for the results. To Cheryl, time seemed to stand still, it felt like she had been sat there forever, but in reality it had only been five minutes when a machine behind her started to beep and a printer next to Cheryl shot out a piece of paper.

"Results" Skyla said taken the paper from the printer. "UN-oh"

"What?" Cheryl asked

"Whatever is poisoning your friend didn't show up in these tests either" Skyla replied

"I have a few more tests I can try; hopefully I'll get better results this time"

Cheryl nodded "Call me as soon as you know anything, I'm going to head to the hospital" she said, thanking Skyla again. Cheryl figured there was nothing else she could do at the office. She wanted to go to check on Lia in person.

_**Back at the farmhouse: **_

Emily could hear Marshall walk down over the stairs. "Did you miss me?" Marshall asked as he got to the last step where Emily could see him.

Emily looked at him but she knew she had to give him an answer "what do you think?" she said. That's when she noticed that his arms were full; he had a brown teddy bear, a camera, a pillow, a blanket, and a bottle of bleach. "What is all that stuff for?" Emily asked afraid to hear the answer.

Marshall chose to ignore her. He walked on pass Emily and Julia to a tiny room in the back of the cellar. He carefully placed the objects in the order he would need them, than he walked back out of the room and over towards Emily. He bended down so his face was only inches from her face, "How long do you think I have been out of jail?" he asked

"I don't know, I've only been on the case for two days" Emily replied

"But I escaped custody a week ago. That moron Brady just didn't tell you until it were necessity. A week was plenty of time for me to get to the farmhouse and set up my plan. I thought I was going to have to wait for you and I was getting really bored when three days ago, by pure divine intervention, a young lady was jogging on the trail behind the farmhouse, what an opportunity for me. So now it's time." Marshall said with an eerie tone of voice.

"NO!" Emily yelled as she leaped forward catching Marshall off guard and pushing him to the floor. However, it wasn't long before Marshall regained the upper hand. He pushed her hard and she hit her head of the wall, knocking her out.

As Emily started to come to, she could feel a sharp pain in her head from being thrown against a wall. She went to rub her head, but she couldn't. Her hands were bound, she opened her eyes to find that she was gagged, and where Julia once hung, Emily now did. Than she heard the horrific screams coming from the back room, and Emily knew the screams belonged to Julia as she was being covered with bleach. The screams continued for what seem like forever than slowly they faded away and Emily knew that she was now in this alone and she would be next.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven:

Running out of Time

Emily was struggling to stay conscious. She had hit her head hard but she was determined to stay awake. Emily managed to open her eyes just in time to see Marshall dragging Julia's lifeless body out of the room; he didn't notice that Emily was awake. He was too busy gently placing a teddy bear under Julia's arms and wrapping her body in a blanket. When he was finished, he walked over towards Emily. She quickly closed her eyes again. Marshall ran his fingers though Emily's hair as he took a long whiff of it. He whispered in her ear "I'll be back shortly. I have a small errand to run. When I get back you and I get to play." Emily keep her eyes close; it went against every instinct she had, all she wanted to do was fight back but as she currently hung upside down, bound and gagged, fighting back wasn't really an option. She heard Marshall head up the stairs, dragging Julia's body with him. She only opened her eyes when she heard the engine of his truck being started. Now she realized she was in trouble. She had half hour, maybe an hour tops before Marshall returned and she was aware what would happen to her when he returned. Emily knew she could try and fight but the reality was she was at a disadvantage, she had been drugged, she hadn't eaten or drank anything in the past 24 hours, and now she was pretty sure she had a concussion, all of this gave Marshall the upper hand. However, Emily wasn't going to give up, she would fight until the bitter end if that's what it came to, physically she might be at a disadvantage but she still had her brain. After all, she had profile him for almost two years, she knew how his twisted mind worked, she begun to wrack her mind for anything she could use to her advantage.

Matt and the rest of the team had finished examining the car and the area surrendering Lake Charles, they had finally turned it over to CSU so it could be process. Matt was now sitting at his desk back at the office. He felt so useless, there were no new evidence to follow, no leads on Marshall or Emily's whereabouts, Lia still had some unknown poison flowing through her body and there was absolutely nothing he could do about any of it. Matt glance towards the red chair next to him, it was Emily's chair, she should have been sitting there smiling back at him and ordering him back to work. But she wasn't, Matt knew he needed to bring her home, she belong in that chair, she belong with him. Something keep playing in his mind, it was the words Frank had said once they discovered Emily's gun, "which means where ever Emily is, she is no longer armed." The problem was Matt had a gut feeling that where ever Emily was, she was with that bastard. The fact she was not armed worried him, Matt knew that no matter what; armed or not, Em would fight, it was part of her, one of the many parts he loved. But he was also a realist; Marshall had at least a foot and about 100 pounds on Emily. He rub his forehead and had another glance at her chair, he got up and sat in her chair, he promised himself right there and than, if it was the last thing he did, Emily would be back in that chair very soon. He got up from the desk and headed back to the conference room to look over the information on Marshall again, Emily had used her brain to piece something together to figure out where Marshall was; now it was his turn to use his brain.

Cheryl sat on the edge of Lia's hospital bed; she looked so tiny laying there. Cheryl had convinced Duff to go and get some coffee. She also had finally broken down and called Lia's parents, they were on the way from Washington. The doctors had been brutally honest with her; Lia was running out of time. Lia's body was getting tried of fighting whatever was attacking her. The doctors figured they had a few hours before her internal organs started to shut down, than the decision would have to be made to turn off the machines that were currently breathing for her. Cheryl took the hand of her colleague and friend, she could feel the tear start to fall down her cheek, the tear was soon followed by many others.

Emily's brain seriously hurt, what was she going to used. She had been going through every memory, every moment she had spent with Kyle back in Phoenix. And she couldn't think of one thing she could use to her advantage. She tried to wiggle lose from her restrains but that was also impossible. She took a deep breathe, she was screwed and she knew it, without some sort of miracle, Emily was going to dye here. She started to think about Matt, and how much she loved him, she thought about her friends, about Lia, she had no idea how Lia was doing but she hopped she was going to be alright, she thought about all the things she would never get the chance to do. And than she snapped out of it, she was not going to give up. Emily Janelle Lehman was a fighter, she told herself. She would see Matt again, she would be held in his arms and they would make love because she was going to get out of this. However, the question came back to her, "how the fuck am I going to get out of this?" She had giving up on the cell phone plan, the battery was surely dead by now, she still had faith that Matt and Frank would find her, she just needed to stay alive long enough for them to figure it out. Emily started to go through her brain again. "There had to be something from Phoenix that will help me" she thought, she started to go through the memories again, her profile, truthfully she had put the entire case as far back in her mind as possible, but she knew now was the time to dig it out. Over and over again, she when through every conversation she had with Marshall, there was nothing, she couldn't think of one single thing that would help her, that's when she heard a vehicle door closed outside the house. "Oh crap, he's back" She thought to herself, and Emily Lehman knew she was running out of time.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: Cutting it Close

Emily swallowed the fear that had begun to rise in her throat. She could hear Marshall entering the house. She knew she had seconds maybe minutes if she was lucky to come up with some sort of plan. As she heard the key being put into the cellar door, the light bulb in her head went off.

_**Flashback...Six years ago in Phoenix  
**_

"Ok, Kyle tell me about your fourth victim, Leslie Parker" A much younger Emily asked.  
Kyle leaned back in his chair, he smiled and eerily replied "what is to tell? Each bitch is the same"  
"Fine, than tell me about the rapes, you've already told me that you took these women to cleanse their soul, why rape them?" Emily asked  
"Because the sex was my favorite part. You want me to tell you a secret" he said with an evil smirk, he leaned in and whispered to Emily "Each time we had sex, I made sure they were awake, I wanted to watch their soul leave their eyes. It might not happen the first time or even the second time, but usually by the third time I knew that I was winning when I got that glazed look in their eyes. But Leslie she was a stubborn little thing, it took at least till the tenth time for that light to leave her eyes." And with that he sat back in his chair still wearing the same smirk.

_**End if Flashback  
**_

"That's it" Emily thought, she figured as long as she pretended to be unconscious due to her injury, Marshall wouldn't touch her. After all his victims had to have their eyes open. She heard Marshall open the door and head down the stairs, Emily closed her eyes and said a silent pray that he would leave her alone.

Matt was reading over the files from the original case that had came from the Phoenix office. The letters were becoming jumbled and his vision was blurred,. He was exhausted but determined to find something, anything that would lead to Emily. He yawned and he knew that if he didn't get a few minutes of sleep he would be useless to everyone. So he closed his eyes, he must have just drifted off to sleep when he heard someone calling his name "Matt get up, CSU has something from Emily's car" Frank called as he stuck his head in the conference room where Matt was working. Matt jumped up and followed Frank downstairs to find out what CSU had come up with.

Duff had return from getting coffee and was once again sitting in Lia's room holding her hand. Cheryl was still sat on the edge of Lia's bed, Duff could see that her eyes were blood shot, he assume that she had been crying. Lia's parents plane was due to arrive at the airport any minute now and when they got to the hospital, the decision would have to be made to turn off the life support or not. He sniffed trying to hold back the tears. How could he lose her now? It just wasn't fair, none of it was.

Meanwhile back in the lab, the lab tech Skyla had ran every test she could think of on the coffee and she was still coming up with nothing. She had eliminated the possibility of it being a powder or solid, therefore whatever was poisoning Lia Mathers had to be a liquid. Nothing else made sense. "What could it be?' she asked out loud as she stared at the coffee sample, hoping the answer would somehow just come to her, she was aware that she was working on borrowed time. If she didn't figure it out soon, it would be too late. Finally Skyla took the sample she was staring at, there was one more thing she knew to try, she would dilute the coffee and put a sample in the ion trap mobility spectrometer and separate the properties of the sample. Maybe that way she could get the structures formula and be able to identify the poison that was killing Lia.

Marshall came down the stairs, Emily closed her eyes, she was determined to not let Marshall see that she had awoken. He ignored for a little while, he went in the back room, she could hear him moving things around and it sounded like he was washing things down. He walked back out and headed towards the wall furthest from Emily. Emily was sure that Marshall had his back turned to her so she opened her eyes to take a quick glance at what he was doing. She saw him tape up a picture of Julia on the wall, and it had a red heart drawn around her face. He was starting a new serial wall. She quickly closed her eyes again before Marshall could turn around. He walked back towards Emily, stopped right next to her "still out, Princesses, oh well I'll wait for a little while" He said to her. He carefully lifted Emily up so she was no longer hanging and carried into the back room, he placed her on the bed "I'm going to have you one way or another" he said caressing her cheek and bending down and giving her a kiss. Emily wanted to fight back but she knew she had to stick to her plan so she kept her eyes tightly closed as Marshall deepened the kiss. He was satisfied with that for the moment and lid back on the bed putting his arms around Emily "I'm the one that truly loves you and I have been waiting for this moment for the past six years " he whispered in her ear.

Lia's parents had arrived at the hospital, the doctors gave them the news about their only daughter and now they had to make a decision.

Skyla had worked on the coffee with a craze, she was now just waiting for the results to come in, she knew it was a long shot, the odds of her being able to identifying the poison by its properties were not great but it was the last thing she could think of. The printer shot out a piece of paper, Skyla couldn't believe her eyes, it was a miracle, it had the formula wrote on it HOCH2CH2CH2CH2OH, Skyla knew exactly what it was...1,.4 butanediol, it was fatal if not treated and because it was colorless and odorless it was very hard to identify but completely treatable with strong antibodies. Skyla got up and quickly dialed the number that Cheryl had left her.

Given what the doctors had told them, Mrs. and Mr. Mathers decided it was time to stop Lia's suffering. They were going to turn off the machines that were breathing for her, they knew Lia wouldn't want to live like that, and things were not getting any better, her body was tired of fighting, she had three more seizures since they had arrive. Lia's parents, Duff and Cheryl all sat around Lia as the doctor turned off the machine. He flipped one button, than another and was about to flipped the last switch when Cheryl's cell rang.


	13. Chapter 13

Note this chapter deals with mature topics and although I was cautious about how I wrote it I want everyone to be aware before reading.

Chapter Thirteen:

Look into Her Eyes

Matt and Frank were slowly losing their patients waiting for CSU to tell them what they had found in Emily's car. Frank was sat down but Matt couldn't be bothered he was pacing like crazy. Every inch of him hoped beyond all reason that whatever these guys found could pin point Marshall and thus Emily. He also had just got the news from Samantha who was on her way to the hospital that Lia's parents were turning of the life support, this just made Matt want to get the bastard even more. Now not only was his girlfriend missing (and he couldn't think about what he might be doing to her because it literally made him sick) but one of his close friends was going to die because of this psychopath. He knew that the moment he came face to face with Marshall he would kill him whether it was necessary or not. "Matt would you stop pacing" Frank said in an annoyed voice. But Matt didn't seem to hear him, he was thinking about putting a bullet in Marshall's head, it was quite a satisfying thought. "MATT!" Frank yelled this time getting his attention but Frank never got the chance to tell Matt to stop pacing for a second time because at that exact moment one of the CSU guys, Ryan came into the room.

Cheryl's phone rang, she wanted to ignore it at that particular moment, she just wanted to be Lia's friend and not the agent in charge but she knew she needed to look at the caller ID, it could be something about Emily. She looked down and when she saw that it was Skyla calling she yelled to the doctor who was literally about to turn off the third switch keeping Lia alive "WAIT"

The doctor and Lia's parents gave Cheryl such a look but she didn't care as she pressed the talk button. Cheryl didn't even get the opportunity to say Carrera because Skyla's voice came through the phone saying "1,4-butanediol, 1,4-butanediol, 1,4-butanediol" Cheryl didn't have to ask questions she understood completely and said out loud "1,4-butanediol"

The doctor's eyes widen and he quickly flipped back on the two switches he had flipped off only moments before, he didn't explain anything to the dumbfounded Mr. and Mrs. Mathers as he left the room to find a nurse. "What's going on?" Duff asked in a shocked voice he didn't quite understand what was going on.

Cheryl lifted her hand to hush him so she could listen to the rest of the details that Skyla was providing her. When she finally finished Cheryl thanked her a number of times and told her she would be eternally grateful before hanging up. Once Cheryl had pressed the off button, Duff figured it was safe again to asked "Cheryl What is going on?"

Cheryl smiled "That was our lab tech, she found out that Lia was being poisoned with something called 1,4-butanediol, which is treatable" she stressed the last word. What Cheryl had said only started to register to everyone in the room when the doctor came back into the room with a needle full of antibiotics and he injected it directly into Lia's IV.

"So Lia is going to be alright?" Mrs. Mathers asked looking almost afraid to get her hopes up

"It will take a few hours for the medication to work but yes she'll be alright" the doctor said.

No one said anything they all looked at Lia and thanked God for sparing her this time.

Emily felt Marshall tighten his grip around her waist. She still had her eyes tightly closed but she could tell that Marshall was becoming increasingly impatient and frustrated that she wouldn't wake up. She didn't know how much longer her plan would work. She knew her only real hope was for Matt and everyone else to find her, but with every passing moment that prospect seemed less and less likely to happen. Than she felt Marshall move, "Ok Princess, I think I've waited long enough" he said out loud than he whispered in her ear, "I know you're awake, so even if I can't see your eyes, I'm satisfied in knowing that you will feel every moment of this" and he position himself atop of her. Emily started to fight back, he knew anyhow. But because Emily was bound and weakened from everything that had happened in the past few days she had no chance of overpowering Marshall and due to the fact she was being held in a cellar she had no chance of anyone hearing her screams but through it all she kept her eyes closed, she refused to let Marshall look into her eyes.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen:

Getting Closer

Hours had passed or maybe it was minutes or seconds, Emily couldn't really tell anymore. All she knew was she was once again hanging upside down in the main room of the cellar. Marshall had just re-entered the cellar, he gave Emily an evil grin, when she did not response to him. He walked over to her and waited, she knew that he would not leave until she opened her eyes, her hazel eyes became locked with his bright blue eyes, "You were well worth the wait" and with that he walked up the stairs leaving Emily alone with her thoughts and tears.

Ryan, the CSU guy, had entered the room, Matt quickly sat down next to Frank, he truly didn't think he could handle any more bad news standing up. Ryan dove right into what was found into the car "We found Agent Lehman's laptop underneath the backseat in her car , it was badly water damaged but we were able to recover certain files from it"

"So?" Frank interrupted "Its just old case files on it, that doesn't help us to find her now"

"True, except I was able to pull up the last search she did before she disappeared. She had been searching for information about this farmhouse" he said passing the article to Frank and Matt "and she had pulled up the global positioning to find the exact location to that farmhouse, I think it's significant" Ryan replied. Matt just nodded his head towards Ryan in gratitude; he believed that this was the lead that they were so desperately looking for.

Lia felt like there was a fight going on inside of her, her mind was trying to get her to open her eyes while her body fought to keep them closed, it needed more time to heal. But she was sick of being unconscious, she could feel the presence of her parents, Duff and Cheryl, she could also sense the panic and worry that was surrounding her. She heard her mother ask the doctor, for what she thought might be the sixth time "when well she wake up? You said it would take a couple hours, it's been almost five"

Lia heard the doctor reply though it was rather faint "Different patients react differently it may take her longer to respond to the medication."

Lia had enough she needed to wake up, she needed to let the people she loved and who loved her know that she was okay, and then her mind won the battle and Lia opened her eyes for the first time in four days. Due to the fact she still had a tube down her throat she was unable to communicate to anyone and first no one seemed to notice that Lia had finally done what everyone had been praying for, she had woken up. It wasn't until Duff had gotten up from the chair he was sitting on, he came face to face with her brown eyes. "Lia, she's awake." Duff said dumbfounded.

The doctor rushed over, he did the standard check up, looked into her pupils, she responded and started to point to the tube, it was extremely uncomfortable. Not even an half an hour later, Lia was sat up in bed, no longer hooked up to anything besides the IV. She had made her parents go down to the cafeteria for something to eat.

"So, I've been out for four days, give me details of the case. Have you caught Marshall yet, I would really like to kick him where the sun don't shine." She asked in a scratchy voice and taking an ice chip and putting it in her mouth, her throat was still sore from the tube.

"No, haven't got him yet" Duff said. Lia noticed that Duff and Cheryl still looked worried, and that's when it hit her "where's Emily?" That was the question Cheryl had hoped Lia wouldn't ask, she didn't want to worry her, she had just been through one hell of an ordeal herself. Lia didn't really need either of them to answer, their expressions told her all she needed to know. "Is she still alive?" Lia asked in a voice just above a whisper this time it had nothing to do with her throat being sore but because a lump of fear had just developed there,

"I don't know" Cheryl said it was weird, she rarely said that, she always seemed to know the answers.

Lia pushed the covers back from her and was about to attempt to stand up. "What are you doing?" Duff asked alarmed at Lia's actions

"Going to save my friend" She said "don't give me those looks I'm fine" She said with such stubbornness and determination. Cheryl and Duff just looked at her to stunned to talk, Lia was always the sensible one Cheryl was about to stop her but Duff cut her off "I'll get your laptop and you can work from here but you are not getting out of this bed" He said with the exact tone of stubbornness and determination that Lia had just moments before. Lia nodded her head in agreement and got back under the covers while Duff left to get her the laptop.

Cheryl had determined that she would wait for Duff to get back before she left to go back to the office, now that Lia was okay, all of her energy needed to focus on finding Emily. Cheryl's cell phone rang, she looked down and saw Matt's name flash across the front of it, "Carrera" she answered.

Matt's voice came through, he wasn't speaking in full sentences, Cheryl could barely understand what he was saying "lead, Farmhouse, Marshall's great aunt" But she certainly got the last part "I think we found Emily"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen:

Note: Again this chapter deals with mature topics and although I was cautious about how I wrote it I want everyone to be aware before reading.

Chapter Fifteen:

Rescue Mission

Cheryl couldn't believe her ears; they had found the location of Emily. "Brief me when I get back to the office, get a SWAT team ready to go, I'll be there in less than 10" she told Matt. Cheryl flipped her phone off she was about to explain everything to Lia but she didn't have to "go, go" Lia ordered her, already putting together what was going on. Duff came into the room at the exact moment with Lia's laptop. "Take Duff too" Lia said "You'll need everyone for this"

Cheryl nodded her head in agreement "do me a favor, check Emily's Cell phone see if you can get a location on it"

Lia nodded as Cheryl grabbed Duff's arm and pulled him out the door "I'll explain on the way" she told him as she caught his confused look "and I'm going to have an officer placed outside your door"

"Ok, now go get the bad guy" Lia said

Cheryl hit the sirens in the car, she made excellent time, she was back to the office within five minutes, she gave Duff as much information as she could. She didn't really know much herself.

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Emily was once again resting on the bed in the back room of the cellar. She knew what was coming; she could hear Marshall preparing himself. She wanted to fight, she really did but she didn't have any strength left, she was so tired. It started again and than it was over as quick as it started. Marshall lay back on the bed placed his arm around her waist, he whispered "I love you" in her ear. She automatically cringed at those words, Marshall didn't like that. He raised himself from the position he was. He straddled her and with one hand pinned her bound hands behind her head. He peered down into her eyes, first Emily thought it was going to happen again but instead Marshall said "say it back" Emily looked up at him confused, she didn't understand what he meant, he repeated his request "tell me you love me" he order her. Emily was going to give in to his demands, he was hurting her wrists and she just wanted him to leave her alone, she figured if she obeyed him it would please him and at this point making him happy was a better plan than pissing him off. "I said tell me you love me bitch!" Marshall ordered again. "I..."She stumbled, the imagine of Matt floated into her thoughts and she found her strength. Emily looked up at Marshall and said "I love Matt" and then she spat in Marshall's face and the room went dark.

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Cheryl and Duff had practically ran up the twenty flights of stairs to reach the CNU, both to pumped with Adrenaline to bother waiting for the elevator. Frank and Matt already had a tactical team waiting. Once Cheryl arrived Frank called the room to order and began to give everyone a briefing on what they had found out. "OK everyone, we all know that Emily has been missing for three days and we had no leads until now that is. The CSU guys found Emily's laptop underneath the seat of her car that was driven into Lake Charles and they were able to find a search on it that Emily performed right before she disappeared; it was for information on an old abandoned farmhouse just outside the city. After doing a little more digging, we discovered that the farmhouse actually belonged to Marshall's great aunt and no one has lived there since her death in 1995. In addition, we just got confirmation from the locals that a woman meeting Marshall's MO was found not even a mile from that farmhouse. We believe that Emily is at the farmhouse" Frank explained. Matt could tell that many people in the room were not convinced, the chances of Emily being there was a million to one but it was the only lead they had. Than Cheryl's cell went off, Mathers flashed across the screen, "Carrera" she said

"I got a weak single coming from Emily's phone" Lia said into the phone "the GPS coordinates are 38.90 latitude and 120.00 Longitude, which is just outside of the city"

"Thanks" Cheryl replied. "Do you have the GPS coordinates for the farmhouse?" she asked

Matt answered "Yeah Em had looked up the coordinates, its 38.90 latitude and 120.00 longitude, why?" Matt asked

"Because that's where she's to" Cheryl answered.

Twenty-five minutes later, Cheryl, Duff, Matt, Frank, Max, Samantha and the SWAT team were parked about a thousand feet away from the farmhouse, they could actually see it in the distance. They were smart enough not to have their sirens going, any sudden noise could set Marshall off, and they didn't want him to panic. Frank placed the blueprints of the farmhouse, which they had managed to get their hands on, across the hood of the jeep. "OK according to these there is a cellar, so if I were some crazy nut job, that's where I would keep my hostage" Frank said.

"I agree" Cheryl said "I want Sierra one which will consist of Duff, Max, and myself, to enter the house, make sure it is clear for Sierra Two to enter which will consist of Frank, Samantha, and Matt, you three are to go for the cellar while Sierra three consisting of SWAT team members will fan out around back to guarantee that Marshall does not escape."

"Good plan, except you can't be on a Sierra, Cheryl you're agent in charge, you can't be entering hot zones like this you have to stay put here and commend" Frank pointed out

"There are exceptions to every rule; I need to help save Emily. You have your orders, just follow them. Lastly, Marshall is a dangerous person, don't hesitate to shoot if the situation warrants itself, but don't forget above all this is a rescue mission."

Everyone nodded and set of to get into position. Sierra one entered first, busting in the front door. Duff leading, headed to the living room to find no one "Clear" he called. Cheryl followed entering the dinning room to find no one "clear" she called. Lastly, Max entered the kitchen to find no one and called "clear." With the upstairs of the farmhouse clear, it was Sierra Two's turn to enter, all three headed towards the door that led to the cellar, with one strong kick Frank was able to break it down, and they entered carefully walking down the stairs knowing at any moment Marshall could jump out. But he never. Matt reached the button of the stairs first; therefore he was the first to see Emily. She was hanging there upside down bound, gag and barely conscious. All of Matt's training left him as he ran over to her without clearing the room first. Matt carefully released the ropes that were keeping her up, holding her in his arms he removed the gag and untied her arms and legs. "Matt?" Emily said in just above a whisper

"Yeah it's me." Matt answered "where's Marshall?" he asked as Frank and Samantha checked out the rest of the cellar.

"Don't know, I pissed him off and when I woke up he was gone" Emily answered clinging on to Matt; she still wasn't convinced he was really there.

"It's all clear here" Frank said

"Ok, let's get her out of here" Matt said

But it wasn't going to be as simple as that. After all Marshall was a very smart individual. He had heard them come, he had heard them enter his house, but it didn't matter he was prepared for this. Armed and hiding in the shadows under the steps, the one place no one looked, he had been waiting for his moment. As Matt stood up, wrapping his arm around her waist to help her walk, Marshall was presented with his moment. He jumped out from his hiding spot and started to shoot. Bullets began to fly across the room and when the dust finally settled, there was a body lying on the floor.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen:

It's Over

It happened in a flash. Marshall jumped out from under the stairs catching every one off guard. He started to shoot, and CNU retaliated. But being in such close proximity to each other it was hard to navigate where you were shooting. Marshall's bullets were being directed at Matt. He was trying to keep Emily covered who was to weak to stand on her own as well as put a bullet in Marshall. At one point during the shootout, Matt was forced to duck a bullet, which just missed hitting him by a millimeter. When Matt ducked he pulled Emily with him losing his grip on her and somewhere in the process he dropped his gun. Matt went for his gun but Emily got to it first, she aimed at Marshall, she shot once, twice, three, four times hitting Marshall each time. Marshall fell, laying on the floor lifelessly but Emily kept shooting. Again and again until the gun cracked indicating it was out of bullets but Emily kept pulling the trigger, she had to make sure Marshall was really dead. Matt walked over to face her, her eyes were full of tears and she was shaking. Matt took the gun from her and passed it to Frank than he pulled her into his arms and repeated "It's Ok Emily, it's over, I'm here, you're safe now." She took a deep breath before collapsing into Matt's chest.

* * *

Emily open her eyes, it took her a few minutes for it to register where she was. She was no longer in the dark dingy cellar but instead resting comfortably in a hospital bed surrounded by all the people she loved. She smiled but it only lasted a minute as the events of the past three days floated back to her, Lia being poisoned, Julia being killed, what Marshall put her through and lastly the imagine of her pulling the trigger came into her mind. Emily sniffled back the emotions she was feeling.

"Hey" Matt said noticing that she had woken up. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired and a little achy" Emily replied

"The doctor said you have a few cuts and bruises, a concussion and he's treating you for dehydration and exhaustion." Lia explained

"You're alright?" Emily asked Lia

"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered smiling at her friend. She had made a miraculous recovery and the doctor was going to release her the next day. Also, Duff had already made plans to take her out the following weekend, giving her time to completely recuperate.

"There was a girl at the farmhouse when I got there, Julia Moore, Marshall killed her we need to find her body" Emily said trying to keep her composure.

"She has already been found by the locals and her family was notified" Cheryl told her.

"Ok. So the doctor already examined me?" Emily asked all of a sudden in a concerned voice

"No, it was just a preliminary examination" Samantha replied

"But it's important for you to get a more thorough examination" Lia said

"I'm fine" Emily said

"Emily, you were down there with Marshall for a long time if something happened it wouldn't be your fault but you have to let..." Frank was saying when Emily cut him off.

"I'm fine" She insisted.

"Emily it's really important to..." Cheryl started but Emily cut her off

"I'm FINE!" She insisted again. Emily knew that she should have a doctor examine her, but she didn't want to admit to everyone what really happened in the cellar, partly because saying it aloud meant she would have to admit it to herself and she wasn't ready to do that yet.

"Alright." Matt said he didn't want her to get upset.

"Matt, Can you do me a favor?" Emily asked

"Anything" Matt said

"Take me home" Emily said as a tear started to flow down her cheek

"I promise you as soon as the doctor clears you, I'll take you home." Matt replied "I'll stay right here until than ok?" he said getting up from the chair he was sat in and got into the bed with her and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

Emily nodded to that as she buried her head into his chest. The group took the hint and figured it was time to leave the couple alone, they were all exhausted anyways.

Emily heard the door shut, when she knew it was just the two of them left in the room, she let out all of her emotions. Matt just let her cry; he held her tight and stroked her hair.

After half an hour of crying, Emily pulled herself away from Matt's chest and looked up into his eyes. "Matt" She said in just above a whisper

"Yeah Em" Matt said

"I'm not dreaming am I? It's really over?" Emily asked

Matt wiped a tear away from her cheek "Yes, it's really over." He said hugging her tightly.

Marshall had started the game; he had been playing for keeps. Marshall had threaten to take everything that they hold dear, but now the game was finally over and this time the good guys were lucky enough to come out on top.

THE END!!

* * *

_So that's the end of this story, however I was thinking about doing a sequel about how Emily and everyone is dealing with everything...would anyone be interested in reading it? _


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